Mordechaj Gebirtig Plaque
Kraków Artists: Writers and Poets
A commemorative plaque on the house at Berka Joselewicza Street 5 in Kazimierz, where Mordechaj Gebirtig (1877-1942), a Yiddish folk poet and songwriter, actor and carpenter by trade, once lived. It was placed in 1992 with the inscription "Farewell, my Kraków. Mordechaj Gebirtig (1877-1942) - carpenter, poet, songwriter". He lived all his life in Kraków's Kazimierz and wrote over a hundred songs and poems; in one of them he bade farewell to Kraków before being driven to the ghetto, where he died on 4 June 1942. Please be respectful.
History
Mordechaj Gebirtig, whose real name was Markus Bertig, was born on 4 May 1877 in Kraków and lived in Kazimierz all his life. He studied at a cheder, then was apprenticed to a carpenter and was a carpenter by trade. At the same time he wrote songs, and his melodies were written down by the musicologist Juliusz Hoffman. In the first decade of the 20th century he tried his hand at acting; during the First World War a heart condition kept him from the front, and he worked as an orderly in the Kraków military hospital. Between the wars he was involved with cabaret stages and with the Bund's literary circle. He wrote more than a hundred songs and poems.
In 1940 the Jews had to leave Kazimierz; Gebirtig then moved to Łagiewniki and later to the Kraków ghetto, on Janowa Wola Street. One of his poems is a farewell to Kraków written just before he was deported to the ghetto. The poet was killed on 4 June 1942 together with his wife and two daughters: the Germans shot them on the corner of Dąbrówki and Janowa Wola Streets during a deportation action in the ghetto.
In 1992 a plaque was placed on the house at Berka Joselewicza Street 5, where he once lived. Its inscription begins with the words "Farewell, my Kraków" and remembers the poet, songwriter and carpenter. There is a second plaque on the building where Gebirtig was murdered.
Did you know?
Gebirtig was brought closer to Polish audiences by, among others, Przemysław Gintrowski, who composed the monumental work "Stół Mardechaja Gebirtiga" to words by Anna Kamieńska.